Here we have an extremely rare Solomon Islands bonito/shark reliquary Dated between 1910-1940. Carved from a single piece of wood with a hollowed cavity at its center which houses a human skull. The skull itself has had some basic restoration. These statues were placed high up in the rafters of the boathouse where the canoes were kept and where men gathered to discuss important community business. Reliquaries such as these are based on a combination of the bonito fish and a shark, The body of this shark-fish hybrid is long and slender, tapering at the head into a long snout with an open mouth. At the end of life men place skulls in a reliquary Like this for eternal protection and honouring this awesome aquatic predator.
This piece has age related cracks and a few of the shells used to decorate have been lost. All signs of age and use.
160 cm long
50 cm high (on stand)
This piece is for collection only, but do get in contact as we can arrange shipment for an extra charge.
Custom stand included.
Photos form part of the description.
For men in the eastern Solomon Islands, fishing isn’t just survival, it is a sacred ceremony.
The bonito, a member of the tuna family, is common in Oceania and highly valued as a food fish. It is eagerly fished for throughout Polynesia and in areas of Micronesia and Melanesia, including the Solomon Islands.
In the South East Solomon Islands, however, the bonito was elevated from a food source to become the focus a religious cult that dominated men’s lives. This cult existed within the triangle formed by three specks of land Santa Ana (Owa-raha) and Santa Catalina (Owa-riki), two small islands opposite the south-east peninsula of the larger island of San Cristoval (Makira), which was the third point.
During this annual migration, the bait fish were sometimes chased close to the surface and the water surface boiled with bait fish, bonito, sharks and sea birds. The natives, who regarded bonito as human beings of the sea because they had no visible scales and red blood, believed this annual visitation to be a gift from the gods and proof of their benevolence and a cult grew around the need to placate the gods to ensure a plentiful harvest of fish
A complex ritual grew up around this annual event. As the bonito fishing season drew near, presentations of food were made to the gods through the local shaman or priest, who had an altar for this purpose in the canoe house. Strict taboos were enforced and the first bonito caught each season was ritually dedicated to the gods. On the rare occasions when the bonito did not make their annual appearance, this was blamed on the breach of a taboo by a member of the community. (Women, for example, were forbidden to touch the bonito canoes or even approach the canoe house).
The presence of a bonito school in the area was usually pinpointed by observing the large flocks of predatory birds that followed it – watching either from land or from a canoe waiting at sea. Once located, the bonito were approached in fast fishing canoes called againiwaiau, light enough to be carried by two men, which paddled into the mass of bonito, sharks and birds to capture as many as bonito possible using long bamboo rods and composite hooks made of mother of pearl and turtle shell that spun like a bait fish in the water.
The function of the Maraufo rituals was to initiate older boys into manhood by passing on the secret knowledge required to manage the tripartite relationship between the gods, the bonito fish and humankind during a period of seclusion that lasted several months.
To begin the maraufo rituals, a boy candidate had to be paddled out to the bonito school in a canoe and allowed to touch the rod while a bonito was landed . On his return to the canoe house, he would be blooded by his first bonito catch, hugging it to his body and even drinking its blood. From this point onwards, he became a maraufo boy, and lived in seclusion in the canoe house for several months, separated from his family and able to eat only a limited number of foods.
At the climax of the maraufo , the boys who had been transformed into men by the blood of the bonito and their months of seclusion paraded on a specially built qua or display platform in all their impressive finery, each carrying a woven bag of presents to be thrown to the cheering crowd below and a lightweight replica of the distinctive prow of an againiwaiau bonito fishing canoe to symbolise the capture of their first fish. They could then be reunited with their families and the period of seclusion ended.
Finally, at the end of this special day, the newly initiated young men entered into a symbolic marriage, presenting their canoe stern posts and combs to a young “bride” to signify that they were now old enough to court and marry.
photos form part of the description.
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